Monday night I watched the Paris Hilton documentary, This Is Paris, which in part deals with Paris Hilton’s time at the troubled teen facility Provo Canyon. I’m still kind of unsettled, which surprised me, mainly because I have spent so long writing about and researching these programs. A large part of my book, Unreformed, traces the history of the troubled teen industry. I really thought I was over feeling this. Let me stress- none of what happened to Paris was new to me, but it was hard to watch it happen to her because it was completely relatable.
In part I was also jarred because I am currently reading Isabel Wilkerson’s book Caste. It’s incredible! One section is about how dehumanization works. I have researched this topic over the years- Phillip Zimbardo has a solid section in The Lucifer Effect– but this time as I read, I kept listing off the parallels in Caste with my own experience.
I was dehumanized in my own home as “rebellious” or as a practitioner of witchcraft (the late 80s were a great time to be raised #evangelical). When I entered Escuela Caribe I immediately became a “low ranker.” At Escuela Caribe, we were punished for having emotional reactions. We were punished for reacting to seeing other people abused. Terror was used to enforce the rules.
Let me be clear. I am not equating the 400 years of slavery endured by Black and Brown individuals to Escuela Caribe, just noting the parallels.
In Caste, Wilkerson discusses how America’s caste system helped build a culture of cruelty in America. She discusses how white culture desensitized white children to racialized violence and to violence in general.
What interests me is that 4 out of 5 kids in the private TTI are white identifying, meaning their parents see nothing wrong with employing institutions to attack their children.
Going to take a pause here and admit that not all parents recognized how abusive most troubled teen facilities are. However any parent who read the Escuela Caribe rule book to my school knew about the level system, that they practiced corporal punishment on teenagers, etc.. They also agreed to not speak to their children for 3 months. I’m not really objective when it comes to parents as mine never apologized. I do appreciate the parents who have reached out to me over the years, and all the parents who have ever apologized to their children. Genuinely taking responsibility for your mistakes means the world to us survivors.
This is also a good place to note that the majority of the kids at my school who were not white identifying were evangelical adoptees, something I found heartbreaking, both then and now. On several occasions I witnessed students who did not identify as white be targeted for harsher punishment.
Two boys who were Black and Brown attempted to run away at the end of my stay. They were put “on silence” to everyone the last six weeks I was there, meaning we were not to talk to them or even to acknowledge them. They were marked as less than human. They were forced to pick and shovel all day in house slippers. It was a form of enslavement.
The main thing I am happy about is that Paris Hilton has popularized the #breakingcodesilence movement, which normalizes survivors sharing their own experiences. The above video is an outtake from the documentary Kidnapped for Christ about my school, Escuela Caribe. Below you can watch This Is Paris and see for yourself.